Abstract [en]

Background: Globalization and development as well as increasing competition have increased risks for many companies. This, together with the previously emerging financial crises in the world, has led to the increased importance of risk management. Risk has become an important factor that each company should consider and manage based on its own needs. With the availability of raw materials, experience and knowledge, the Swedish furniture in- dustry is an important industry for the country's economy, most of which involves the manufacture of office furniture, which belongs to the industry line "public environment". Sweden's commitment to the public environment is important for society due to faster development and digitization, where there is an increasing need for creative and flexible interior design solutions for activity-based workplaces. With increasing demands on quality, design and sustainable products, manufacturing furniture companies are a subject to various risks that are industry-specific and therefore must be treated. There are currently three standard frameworks used for risk management, namely COSO ERM, ISO 31 000 and FERMA. The frameworks are intended to help companies manage their risks systematically. What previous studies indicate, however, are that these frameworks are too general and not adapted to a company's specific needs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is:-to identify which risks and risk areas are perceived as most problematic at present time and in the future,-to describe and analyze how manufacturing companies in the Swedish furniture industry cur- rently handle risks and-to develop a risk management model that is adapted to manufacturing companies in the Swe- dish furniture industry.

Method: A qualitative interview study based on the theoretical reference frame and on a study keywords. Empire for the study has been obtained through semi structured interviews from six companies of various sizes that manufacture office furniture for public spaces.

Conclusion: The collected empirical material has given me an insight of various risks that the industry faces today and which should be addressed. These risks are retailers, dependence on architects, changed trends in interior decoration of public spaces and to some extent transport problems, that is flat packages. Risk areas facing the industry in the future, apart from chang- ing office trends and lack of proper skilled staff, include circular economics, architects' power, retailers and flat-rate packages. Since the industry does not work actively with risk man- agement and with the disadvantages existing risk management frameworks possess, a custom- ized risk management model for manufacturing companies in the industry has been developed.